Thursday, July 24, 2014

Sometimes the New York Times steps out of character. It
offers a hard-hitting, well documented piece of journalism that damages a
Democrat.

Yesterday, the Times effectively doomed the election campaign of Montana
Senator John Walsh. By most accounts Walsh was trailing his Republican opponent
Steve Daines and was likely to lose his bid for the seat he was given when Max
Baucus retired.

And yet, being accused of systematically plagiarizing a
thesis will surely be the coup de grace for a failing campaign.

From the Times report:

Democrats
were thrilled when John Walsh of Montana was appointed to the United States
Senate in February. A decorated veteran of the Iraq war and former adjutant
general of his state’s National Guard, Mr. Walsh offered the Democratic Party
something it frequently lacks: a seasoned military man.

On the
campaign trail this year, Mr. Walsh, 53, has made his military service a main
selling point. Still wearing his hair close-cropped, he notes he was targeted
for killing by Iraqi militants and says his time in uniform informs his views
on a range of issues.

But one
of the highest-profile credentials of Mr. Walsh’s 33-year military career
appears to have been improperly attained. An examination of the final paper
required for Mr. Walsh’s master’s degree from the United States Army War
College indicates the senator appropriated at least a quarter of his thesis on
American Middle East policy from other authors’ works, with no attribution.

Mr.
Walsh completed the paper, what the War College calls a “strategy research
project,” to earn his degree in 2007, when he was 46. The sources of the
material he presents as his own include academic papers, policy journal essays
and books that are almost all available online.